Hygiene

[Monika]

If an elderly person is unable to take a bath or shower and tries to get by by washing as much of the body as is possible, what happens to those parts of the skin which remain untouched by soap and water over a period of years?

If the person is overweight and has many folds in their skin what happens there when those flakes of skin are left within those folds?

[beejaybee]

If an eldery person gets to this point they should be able to have a carer who in some cases will call twice a day to help with personal needs. My mum has daily carers that call twice daily, 7 days a week.

[kp nonuts]

Smell

[China Doll]

You can get sores within the folds of skin that can get infected and cause a great deal of discomfort and pain. If left untreated they can also start to rot.

If they are unable to wash themselves properly then social services or the GP should be able to do a referral to Occupational Therapy who may be able to recommend and set up services/equipment in order for the person to have as much independence as possible.

[beejaybee]

The reason my mum gets twice daily carers is to try to enable her to remain in her own home. Obviously, she`d much prefer to be able to manage such a personal thing herself, but as she can not, she`s really grateful for the help.

[Monika]

Thank you every one who has answered.

This is a personal question regarding my 89 year old mother who cannot be persuaded to spend her money on converting her bathroom into something useable. She has a bath and a shower which she hasn't been able to use for some time now (years but I can't remember how many).

She has money sitting in the bank doing nothing but she won't put it to good use, such as having a sit-down shower installed, and messes around with bowls of water and a flannel.

My sister and I are beating our heads against the proverbial brick wall and I thought that maybe I could point out to her the consequences of her actions regarding hygiene - hence this question - and scare her into some positive action.

She is very stubborn about everything so I know that any suggestion involving someone coming in to bathe her would be out of the question.